Keep Your Creative Juices Flowing!

Even the most creative person in the world will not always be able to come up with new things right off the bat – it just doesn’t work that way. Pretty soon, the creative juices run out, and one must find ways to replenish that well in our brain. Creatives get their inspiration from various things, depending on the person’s personal preferences, knowledge, style, and how their brain works. Here are a few of the most effective ways to keep the creative juices flowing:

1. Look into Your Own Life

What better place is there to find inspiration that our own lives? Even when we’re at a point in our lives when everything is repetitive or uninteresting, keep an open eye out for something that could trigger inspiration. If nothing is coming to you, try to focus on one aspect and try to think up of various ways to depict it, or how it could be relevant to you. It all depends on what exactly you do, but there are, for sure, countless ideas surrounding you to be discovered. After all, art only imitates life.

2. Create a Cluster Diagram

Focus on one word, the supposed central theme of the particular project you’re working on. Stare at that one word, internalize, and jot down other things that pop into your head. It doesn’t matter if it’s seemingly irrelevant or unimportant; just keep writing without actually thinking. Afterwards, look at each word one by one and try to use these as keywords to continue brainstorming your ideas.

3. Look at Other Forms of Media

The creative community regards several aspects of media very useful for brainstorming. A creative’s source of inspiration is not limited to their own branch of art. For example, even as a writer whose focus is on the written word, one can still be inspired by films, music, social media, fashion, print ads, and even architecture. The important thing is being able to convert these ideas into something relevant to your own line of work.

4. Do Something Else

Sometimes you’re much too close to something to see the big picture. In this case, try to get away from the project at hand and do other things. Don’t think about it. Let your mind rest. Ideas will start pouring when you least expect it.

As previously stated, each and every creative rely on various sources of inspiration. None of the methods mentioned above is a surefire way, but should vary in effectivity for most. It’s up to you to gauge which is of most help. Good luck!